Follow Revolution

Revolution Review: Origins

Aaron sent the patriots out with a blaze of glory on Revolution Season 2 Episode 9, and, much like the nanotech’s reaction to Aaron’s commands, the show's direction remains unclear.

This installment was very much an improvement over the last few string of episodes, as there were a lot of fun to be had in the character interactions, flashbacks and reveals.

We’re still leaps and bounds ahead of Revolution Season 1. Yet some of the promise shown way back in the beginning of the year is feeling squandered; the biggest issue is the lack of focus.

There seems to be a lot of pieces in play that are building to an epic, action-packed conclusion, and I’m looking forward to watching that. However, that conclusion is months away and a so much could be improved just by knowing where the Patriots stand.

The Patriots have gone from this mysterious, heroic idea of a bygone era that attempt to bring the U.S. back together, and supposedly, according to the Dr. Horn, they could use Aaron’s nanotech to do this even faster. But this leads to Revolution’s biggest problem: no one is ever really clearly defined.

While characters themselves can have many hues and shades of grey, the plot itself benefits from having a clearly laid out objective, and the Patriots – who are driving the plot – don’t have any discernable objective. Monroe suffered from this, and so did the walk to the Tower. This murkiness in the plot drags down the good elements of plot.

Aaron’s story, for once, is actually resonating with me. He’s going through a lot and the reason why the nanotech chose him is rather simple: he turned them on back in the Tower.

He’s the best person to pilot the tech, albeit it might be gone for now. Aaron is not a soldier, and he didn’t kill for living (before the tech). He’s just a man trying to find his identity in a world that has left his skill sets behind. He’s not behind a computer doing what he’s good at and when Aaron does find a small moment of happiness, he loses it.

That happened here with Aaron again. Dr. Horn tried to force him to use the tech to heal his tumor by using Cynthia as leverage. Unfortunately, before Aaron could get do it, he shot and killed her. Aaron’s conflicting decisions ended up making the tech confused. (Minus the killing part. Burning everyone to death is very easy to understand apparently).

Does the nanotech choose someone else now? Or if Aaron does gain tech’s trust back is he going to go be ruthless with the tech like he shows tonight?

Miles and Rachel finally got to have a small chat before getting interrupted by the Patriots, and through a flashback we learned Rachel is willing to leave Ben behind for Miles so long as he confirms his feelings for her. It’s taken one hell of a long time, but Miles finally confirms what we’ve all known: he shouldn’t have let her go. He loves Rachel.

Julia resurfacing on a Patriot train with an entirely new life and husband is not something I had expected. I figured Julia was gone for good as necessity for the show, and for most of last season I always wondered why was willing to stick with Tom.

Tonight, at least, part of that answer is finally clear: she’s just like Tom. Julia believes they can still have everything they want. Julia may end up being even more cunning and ruthless than Tom when it comes to status and power in society.

Finally, there’s Monroe and Charlie. I finally saw why some are beginning to root for them to get together. They work well together. It’s sick and twisted on some level, yet they have chemistry.

Plus, who wouldn’t fall for the charms of a man who slits some soldiers’ throats and then says, “I’m Batman” to them? It’s charming... in some twisted way.